The West Ham defender Daniel Potts has thanked well-wishers for their support
after leaving hospital on Thursday following the head injury he suffered
against Arsenal.

The 18-year-old was knocked unconscious during Wednesday’s 5-1 defeat following a collision with Bacary Sagna. Potts spent the night in hospital and underwent further scans and tests on Thursday, which West Ham announced had brought positive results.

Potts, who received messages of support from across football, including a tweet by Fifa president Sepp Blatter, will undergo a period of rest before resuming light training in the gym. Blatter wrote on Twitter: “Best wishes & quick recovery to @DanPotts03. Concussion in football is a big issue that Fifa is taking very seriously.”

Potts said: “A big thank you to everyone for their support and messages. Hopefully I am looking to feeling better over the next few days.”

West Ham added: “The club would also like to thank the London Ambulance Service, the on-site pitch rescue team and everyone at Arsenal who helped in making sure Potts was taken to hospital as quickly as possible.”

West Ham finished the match with 10 men after Potts was taken off on a stretcher but were already well beaten at that stage, with Lukas Podolski producing his best display since joining Arsenal. He has previously said that he would like to play as a central striker but manager Arsène Wenger believes the Germany forward is most effective when cutting in from the left.

Podolski said: “I have played on the left for Cologne sometimes and for the national team,” he said. “It is not something special. I think when I play No 10 or a striker, I am in this position to score more goals and can shoot more but with the style of the game of Arsenal, I do it well on the left side and I’m happy to play there.”

Podolski knows Arsenal must deliver a more consistent level of performance if they are again to secure qualification for the Champions League.

“It’s important for me at the end of the season to be in the Champions League,” he said. “We have great players ... and after the two games against Man City and Chelsea, the atmosphere was not so good but against West Ham we won 5-1.

"It was one game and we have three points but we have 15 games more. It is not about saying ‘today Arsenal are back’ because we need more of these games and more of these points. There is enough time to get back in the top four.”